Uh-Ohh, PB went out in the sunshine again

A veritable feast for the eyes was had last week, when I ventured down to Ferrybridge and Portland again. I'd studied the forecast, and everywhere was going to be shrouded in fog until late morning, except the Portland peninsula, and being a habitual early riser that decided me where I was going... More birds in flight practise (nice big slow gulls!) ID practise with combinations of Larks and Pipits, the chance of Birds of Prey... what more could you want.... well.... as it turned out....late in the trip... 2 new to me birds!!

Before we start, this is one of my long trips out, so I hope you enjoy your snacks!!

First up, in the car park....

Still in the car park

And still...

still.....

Haven't made it out of the car park yet!

Phew.... what a start... and that didn't include some rubbish cormorant and corvid shots!

Out along the "lagoon" were lots of waders, Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover to name a few

Fairly distantly a regular fracas kept kicking off, with a number of gulls harassing a number of cormorants

Thanks again to those in the ID querying thread of this gull, I think the final thought was it's a Common Gull

My practise of photographing everything that moves sometimes pays off, as I think this may be a Knot?

As an indication of the distances around the Fleet...

Crops down to

Luckily it wasn't just in the car park, or in the middle of the sea the Cormorants appeared (not sure I've seen so many in one place before)

Not sure if this Oystercatcher used a stone as a tool... or if it caught two different molluscs...

Well... you know how Stonechats tend to flit along perch to perch, often as a pair..... well imagine my surprise when Mr Stonechat was doing it with Mrs Greenfinch!! They followed each other on 3 or 4 of those concrete bollards, dropping to the grass and then back to the bollard top... very odd!

I'd crossed over the road, and was looking out into Portland Harbour (Great Northern Diver, and both Black and Red Necked Grebes has been spotted in the last few days) and the cliffs the far side of Weymouth Bay caught my eye, or more accurately... the fog along the top

Back over the road and I did something I've not done since I was a kid... climbed to the top of Chesil Bank (I won't be doing it again any time soon...pebbles are a right b*gger to walk up lol)

First up, looking along the Fleet

And then the other side of the bay, I guess towards Bridport ish

Back to the car park...

A very fetching poppet Pipit in a skirt

Obviously after such a good couple of hours, I was going to push my luck, so headed up to the Bill full of optimism.

As always...check out the car park, you never know who's lurking about

Moonlighting as one of the Royal Navy Border Patrol

Sparrow bath time!

a Charming tree

This was at the clii top, but periodically a wave would crash in hard enough to send spume up and over, but Waggie didn't seem to mind...he was probably more focussed on the hundreds of little flies there were

The only Robin I saw all morning!

There were a few of these big fellas about

And even more of these not so big fellas!

Now, the first of the two new birds... Purple Sandpiper

And then, lo and behold, just around the corner....new too... Black Redstart

Possibly a third new one (but unlikely) Google lens is quite insistent this is a water pipit?

Flying distantly, a Gannet.... certainly unexpected!

Then heading back to the car park, the elusive Black Redstart again!

So now really deciding to push my luck, I returned to the Fleet, as the tide was a couple of hours different... Sanderling

Turnstone

And finally a Brent Goose, that had been too distant to photograph in the morning

Well, I hope you enjoyed my bird filled morning, and thank you for sticking with it all the way through!!

As always ID's and corrections welcomed

Stay Safe All